Blood of Dragons

So, ‘Now we wait,’ he announced, gingerly taking a seat in the only chair in the room, a contraption woven of dried vines. A rather flat cushion was the only protection for his bottom and the drape of canvas on the back added little or no comfort. But at least he could rest his legs after the interminable stairs. Redding looked around the room in vain and then, with a groan, squatted on the low bedstead, his knees jutting up uncomfortably. He crossed his arms on them and leaned forward, looking grumpy.

‘Wait for what?’

‘Well, I should have said that I wait. I’m afraid that my first meeting must be conducted in an extremely confidential manner. If all goes well, then soon I will receive a visit from a fellow responding to the note you left with Innkeeper Drost at the Frog and Oar Tavern in Trehaug. I will deliver certain items to him. In the meanwhile, you, dear fellow, should go out and amuse yourself for a time. When my business is concluded, I’ll ask our landlady to send her boy for you.’

Redding sat up straighter and glints of dismay came into his eyes. ‘Amuse myself? In this monkey village? Where, I ask you? It’s getting dark, these tree branches they call paths are becoming slippery, and you want me to go out and wander about on my own? How will you send a boy for me when you won’t know where I am? Hest, really, this is too much! We’ve come on this ridiculous journey together and up to now, I’ve done it all your way, climbing through trees, dropping off secret notes in filthy taverns, and even toting that box for you as if I were some kind of treetop donkey! I am hungry, wet through, chilled to the bone, and you want me to go back out in this foul weather?’

He lunged to his feet and attempted to pace the small room angrily. He looked more like a dog turning round and round before settling to sleep. His movements made the room sway. He halted, looking dizzy and angry. Hest watched his fury build to the popping point.

‘I don’t think your business is “confidential”. I think you don’t trust me. I am not going to be your lapdog the way Sedric was, dependent on you for everything, never making a move on my own! If you want my company, Hest, you’ll have to respect me. I came on this jaunt with the aim of acquiring Rain Wild goods, as an independent trader. I brought my own funds for that purpose. I had thought that as we had become such good friends, I could avail myself of some of your business contacts as well. Not to compete with you or bid against you for anything you wanted, but only to make small investments of my own, in items you found unworthy of your time. And now that I am here and have come all this way and served you like a runner-boy, you intend to dismiss me as if I were some sort of brainless lackey or servant. Well, it won’t do, Hest Finbok. It won’t do at all.’

The chair was very uncomfortable. And he was as chilled and weary as Redding. Sedric would have had the good sense not to pick a quarrel with him at a time like this. Hest regarded the pink-cheeked man with his lower lip jutting like a petulant child, puffing away like a pug-nosed dog, and at that moment, seriously considered abandoning him there in Cassarick. Let him see just how well he managed as an ‘independent trader’.

Then a far more appealing plan occurred to him.

‘You’re right, Redding.’ At this concession, the man looked so startled that Hest was hard put to keep from laughing. But he put a serious expression on his face and continued, ‘Let me show my confidence in you quite clearly. I’m going to put you in charge of this meeting, and leave you to it. The men you will meet today represent some powerful trading interests. You may be a bit surprised to discover they are from Chalced—’

‘Chalcedean traders? Here in the Rain Wilds?’ Redding was, indeed, shocked.

Hest raised his brows. ‘Well, certainly you know that I’ve made trading trips to Chalced, so you must know I’ve contacts there. And three Chalcedean trading houses have established offices in Bingtown since the end of our hostilities with them. Indeed, I’ve heard several members of the Bingtown Traders’ Council say that they believed establishing trade relations with Chalced may be our best path to a lasting peace with them. When economic goals and benefits align, countries seldom go to war.’